


I’m back...

by Yeeter_Skeeter



Series: I’m back....  (alternate endings) [1]
Category: Stranger Things - Fandom
Genre: Gen, The Upside Down, What happened to will Byers, Will Byers has changed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-16
Updated: 2019-07-18
Packaged: 2020-06-29 07:49:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19825708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yeeter_Skeeter/pseuds/Yeeter_Skeeter
Summary: Will Byers was in the upside down for a year not a week and instead of Joyce and hopper saving him he escapes on his own but can he stay in Hawkins? Or does he have to go back?And for the party, well when they get will back they are relieved but how much has he changed and what happened in there?





	1. Chapter 1

Mike wheeler POV 

We are sitting in my basement talking and hanging out but like always there is something missing... will. Ever since he disappeared we have tried everything to find him but he is just... gone and it’s not the same, Max is here and so is el but will isn’t. It’s like there is a gaping hole in the middle of our group. Max and el haven’t met him but we have told them about how cheerful and smart and funny he was, how he was the fastest biker in our group, it’s hard to be normal with him gone. Constantly we have people telling us to move along to put it behind us but I can’t and I don’t think I ever will. Dustin always tries to cheer us up and whenever wills name comes up Lucas tries to change the subject but it’s hard, so so so hard. 

I sigh and stand up, “anyone want snacks? We can play a game or something?” Everyone mumbles in agreement as I head upstairs to get popcorn and drinks.  
I walk into the kitchen putting the popcorn in the microwave and grabbing coke from the fridge I head back down putting it on the table.  
“So what are we playing?” I ask the group,  
“Um we could play monopoly?” El suggests, it’s one of the most recent games we have taught her.  
“Yeah ok” “sure” “why not” says the group  
El goes and grabs the box and starts setting it up quickly when the phone rings. No one else is home so I get up expecting it to be some person my dad works with. But instead I’m greeted with someone sobbing into the receiver.  
“Hello? Who is this?” I ask  
“Mike thank god your here,” the person says between sobs.  
“Joyce? Is that you?” I ask wondering what on earth happened  
“Yes, yes, yes it me I’m here” she gasps  
“What do you need?” I say  
“Mike, mike mike,” she hesitates “my baby is home, Will is home, I don’t know how but he’s home!”  
“I drop the phone stumbling back and sitting on the stairs, I can feel hot tears sliding down my face and I’m gasping for air, el Dustin and Lucas run up surrounding me, and I can’t even think straight  
“What happened!”  
“Are you okay?”  
“Who was it?”  
But it sounds like they are a million miles away. But I know I have to say something so I stutter out two words because that’s all I can do.  
“H-h-h-he-he’s b-b-back” I say shakily.

Lucas POV 

I freeze, did mike just say what I think he said... mike then repeats himself  
“He’s back... Will is back,” I look over to see Dustin with tears running down his face and then I realise I’m crying too about 0.1 of a second later mike Dustin and I are on our bikes riding as fast as our bikes would let us.


	2. Will? Is that you?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The party meet will for the first time in a year and are shocked for more reasons than one

Mike POV 

I’m out the door in seconds with Dustin and Lucas hot on my heels, completely forgetting about the girls we left in the basement, I grab my bike and jump on, I don’t even know I started peddling until I’m halfway up the road. I’m to trapped in my own thoughts. Will he remember me? Will he be different? Has he changed? What if he doesn’t like me anymore? What if he’s changed? What happened? Where was he? Is he alright? Is he hurt? Is he ok?  
Before I know it we have arrived at the house, I jump off my bike ditching it and running towards house, I knock the door repeatedly so much Lucas has to yank my hand away from the door. I start tapping my foot nervously waiting for the door to open. I can hear whispers inside and footsteps coming towards the door.

The door opens and we look up Joyce is standing in the door tears running down her face and a faint smile on her lips.  
“Thank god you guys are here!” She says “Will is inside on the couch, just before you go in I have to say he has changed a lot,”

Joyce then steps aside letting us in. We all step in and look around, Jonathan is standing against the far wall looking lost in thought, hopper is sitting in and armchair and sitting on the couch is will except, he doesn’t look like Will, I was definitely right he has changed, so much. And now I understand what Joyce was talking about.

Sitting in front of me is not the short skinny kid who I met on the swings on the first day of kindergarten, he is not the same boy who joked and laughed and played D&D with us every Saturday, he’s not the Same Cleric who saved everyone in almost every campaign we played, he is different. He is tall taller than Jonathan, about Steve or chiefs height. He has long legs and lightly muscled arms. His face has sharpened his jaw more square but still a little round, his green eyes have darkened from a leafy green to a forest colour. His hair is down to his shoulders. He is wearing baggy pants, black lace up boots and a black tank top, he has an old watch on his wrist and he has a old backpack and a duffle bag on the ground. If I didn’t know him so well I wouldn’t have recognised him.  
“Will?” I manage to croak out, my voice breaking as more salty tears threaten to fall.  
“Hey Mikey,” he says Giving me a small wave. Three seconds later I’m jumping into his arms giving him the biggest hug I can, I don’t know when I started crying but it doesn’t matter because I’m hugging my best friend after a year of being without him, I missed him so much, I feel him squeeze tightly pulling his head up from where it was resting on top of mine, and pulling away arms still holding my shoulders tightly.  
“I’ve missed you guys so much” he says loud enough for everyone to hear, quickly pulling me in and the stepping back and hugging Lucas and Dustin.  
“We missed you too, buddy,” “yeah, we missed you so freak’in much” “we never forgot about you, man” we al say together are voices jumbled together. Will let’s out a chuckle and we sit down together on the couch.  
“So what happened while I was on away?” Will asks, chuckling when we all started talking over each other, trying to fill him in. There is a knock at the door, we all look at each other who could that be? Joyce stands up and goes to open the door. The door opens to show Max and El standing on the porch together. Their bikes leaning against the wall outside.

Max POV 

I have no idea what’s happening, one minute the boys are crying together on the stairs and the next they are sprinting out the door. I look over and El looks just as confused as me. I shrug and stand up holding my hand out to pull her up.  
“I guess we should probably follow them?” I say pulling El up.  
“Yeah that would be smart,” she says almost like she’s asking a question, we head outside I grab my new bike, bright yellow with black handle bars, when I moved here my mom insisted on buying me a bike so I can bike with my friends, and hopper bought El a red one for her birthday last month. We both get on our bikes and start biking towards the Byers house.  
I forgot how far away the Byers house was from Mike’s. 

About ten minutes later we pull up at the Byers and knock on the door, Joyce opens the door and we step inside to see the boys huddled around someone, I’ve never seen them before but I can tell the boys know him, because their cheeks are tear stained and their eyes are puffy and red. I look behind me to see El standing In the door way like she is in shock.  
“Um... who are you?” I ask the tall boy cautiously   
He looks at me raising his eyebrows before standing up“I could ask you the same thing,” he puts his hand out for me to shake   
“The names Will, Will byers,” he says with a crooked grin.  
I try to keep my shock down but I think he saw it anyway he gives a chuckle, i clear my throat, “ah so this is the famous Will Byers,” I say in a teasing voice “it’s nice to finally meet you,” I say shaking his hand, he’s got a tight grip. I give him a crooked grin letting his hand go. “You still haven’t told me your name,” he laughs leaning against the wall, oh the names Max, Max Mayfield,” I reply  
“Well it’s a pleasure to meet you, Max,” he says winking and turning towards the door.  
Well I like this Will Byers kid, I can tell we will be great friends in the future.

Will Byers POV   
We all sit down in the living room together, Mike and Lucas beside me on the right Dustin on my left and the two girls were sitting on some pillows laid on the floor in front of us. We were talking and I was getting to know Max better, El wasn’t talking much but we bothe knew we would have to talk sooner or later. After a quarter of an hour of talking Lucas clears his throat. Everyone looks over at him.  
“I think it’s probably time we should address the elephant in the room, if you don’t mind?” Lucas says looking at me expectantly.  
“No, no it’s alright, but yeah guess your right. I have some explaining to do,” I sigh softly, looking up at everyone, I begin to retell the story or what happened back on November 6 1983.


	3. Flower face

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will tells everyone what happened to him while he was in the nether
> 
> ( the party and co no about the demogorgon and the upside down but they didn’t know how to get to Will so basically everything about S1 &S2 but Will wasn’t saved and they haven’t taught the mind flayer yet)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mind flayer = Nether King  
> Upside Down = Nether  
> Demo dogs = The Hounds  
> Demogorgon = scavenger  
> And some extra creatures I made up:p

Will Byers POV 

“So it all starts at 10:00 on the 6th of November 1983, we had just finished playing a game of D&D at Mike’s house, then we all parted ways saying our goodbyes Lucas went left Dustin and I went left and mike went inside. When we got to Dustin’s house he turned off and I kept going home, there was a cold breeze and I only had one layer so I took the shortcut. I was half way down the road I heard something making a chittering noise, I assumed it was a bird but boy was I wrong,” I pause taking a breath and continue “as I got closer I saw what was actually making the noise, it was this strange creature, it was tall long legs and arms that reached down to his knees, long spindly fingers and long thin feet. It had smooth light purple skin. It didn’t have a face just five petal like flaps that open up to reveal layers of teeth. In the Nether we call it a Scavenger.” I pause and look around at everyone, they seem transfixed by whaat I’ve said  
“The Nether?” Lucas asks  
“It’s where I was stuck, it’s a parallel universe from this one except it’s a dark soulless place, covered in dark vines and stuff, there isn’t a sun and there is no people or animals the only things there is the scavengers, the hounds, and a few others.”  
“Oh we call it the upside down,” Dustin says “oh yeah, we also call the flower face thing the demogorgon,” Dustin finishes,  
“Like from D&D?” I ask with a chuckle   
“Yeah we used the D&D guide to figure out what everything was,” Lucas says matter of factly  
“Well that’s one way to do it I guess,” I say with a shrug,   
“Anyway where was I?”   
“You bumped into flower face while riding back from Mike’s,” max pipes up.  
“Thanks max,”   
“No problem,” I smile at her and face everyone again mike Joyce hopper Jonathan and El haven’t said a word so I decide to get back to the story.  
“So yeah, he started walking towards me and I realised I couldn’t get any further biking so I went into the forest and started running towards the house, I got there and there was no cars in the driveway so I ran inside locked the door running to the phone I started to dial the polices but no one picked up, I put the phone back on the holder turning around I looked towards the door and saw the knob start to turn and the door clicked open, I ran as fast as I could out the door to the shed. I grabbed the rifle, but there was no point it was empty and rusted out.” I pause to catch a breath  
“The scavenger walks in and walks toward me, I have nowhere to go so I kinda just stand there. He reaches his hand out and wrapped it around my neck and I start to feel nauseous then everything goes dark and I wake up in the exact same place just not the same universe I guess, the scavenger was gone but not for long, I stood up and started walking across the yard towards the house all the food was mouldy or inedible and there was no electricity or running water so that was great,” I say sarcastically, hopper raises and I eyebrow, I clear my throat “ah sorry, but luckily I wasn’t hungry or thirsty so I went inside and had a look around, see what we still had the blankets and sheets were mostly intact and the furniture wasn’t in horrible shape so I stayed at home for a while had a rest but after about three days the chittering came back and so I packed some extra clothes a baseball bat and small blanket and head off, i went out the back door and into the woods, i made sure to keep moving but I’d go stay in the odd house if I saw one while walking by. But other than that I walked around finding semi edible food when I could, after about five weeks of walking around and scavenging food I bumped into another scavenger, smaller but just as dangerous, I ran to the edge of town and hid in an old clothes store, after a while she went away and I realised surviving would be tougher than I thought. Over the next few months after that I had encountered more scavengers and a few hounds, I had got used to the place and found myself able to survive longer and longer without food and water, which was good I guess.” I stop to breath then I continue  
“I decided that I should find a secure place to live where I can’t be reached. But that’s a bit difficult seeing as a hound can break through a solid slab of concrete and a scavenger can open locks doors and can get to you easily. I gathered spare wood nails and took the stuff from Castle Byers and went over to the old willow tree on the edge of town and I started to build a small platform up in the trees I put a mattress up there with some sheets and blankets but as time went on the platform turned into a fort which turned into a small house it had a bed and a cabinet and a few other things, the willow was perfect coverage for the place so I stayed there, I did a resource run every once and a while occasionally bumping into a rogue creature here or there , but I did fine, I got some weapons and traps just in case but other than that I was fine.” I stop for a moment shifting in my seat I take a couple deep breaths and start up again. “I decided to go explore the shops and buildings because I had grown out of my clothes and needed more, but the stores were in the center of Hawkins and on the far side which is where all the monsters are, but I decide to give it a go. The first time I went it went off without a hitch but on my third trip I saw a couple scavengers fighting over something so I decided to go through the library, BAD idea I walk inside to find four scavengers, two were sleeping one was walking away and the fourth was ripping something apart on the ground. I tried to run but I knocked over a metal bookshelf which fell waking up the other two and getting the others attention. I turned around to run to find the bookshelf blocking the door. And funnily enough there are only two doors and the other was behind the four scavengers. I fought off one and dodged another, I just had to get past the last two and I would be free, but it’s never that easy, they started chasing me and I slipped past one and ran towards the door, the one I fought off tried to get up and knocked over a shelf much to my relief and I got straight out of there But I try not to think about that incident so let’s get back to the story,” I let out a nervous laugh “I still managed to get what I needed before going home. Nothing changed much just went about my business doing resource runs, getting clean clothes, doing some excercise reading books, having a nap and stuff just the usual,” I say with a shrug looking around at everyone who is still watching me, “uh then about three months ago I was at home sitting on a branch eating whatever food I found that day when the clouds started to roll in, I made my way inside and sat by the open door watching the storms start, I had left the buckets out to collect water that morning so they would be full tomorrow, but then the lightning starts so I stand away from the door but I keep looking out, then since natural colour doesn’t exist in there, there was a bright red flash of lightning flashing across the sky and then I saw this big shadow thing rise out of the forest and start to howl,   
~then everything that happened in his episodes and happened while he was there and he explained what happened but I forgot some of S2 sorry~ And he isn’t possessed anymore but I don’t know how to write that so it’ll probably be in one of my alternate ending fics~

“So that’s how I unpossessed myself,” i say doing an awkward clap thing I look up and everyone is staring at me in horror I chuckle frankly “so um yeah that happened but then I went back home and fell asleep and when I woke up I had nothing to eat so I grabbed a backpack and duffel bag and started heading towards the shops, when I got there I filled my backpack with med stuff and new clothes then I started heading home, as I walked down the road I was looking around at the houses when I saw through the window of a house this big glowing thing so I went to investigate. I got inside and it was like a slimy portal. Figuring that I had nothing left to do with my life I decided to see what happened and stepped through. As I broke through the gate I started to feel nauseous and right when I got to the other side I blacked out. I woke up in this big field on the edge of town, I decided to head back home but when got into Hawkins instead of seeing black ropey vines and dark sludge on every surface I saw clean normal signs and streets and shops it wasn’t dark and cold it was warm and everything was lit up people were walking around and it was crazy. I thought I was hallucinating but when I walked around I saw everything was in fact real. I walked around until it got dark and then decided to see if anyone was here so I walked over and knocked on the door, and mom answered and so now I’m here,” i say lightly shrugging a bit.

I look around and everyone looks like they are in shock processing what happened or contemplating what they should do,   
“You guys seem awefully quiet, are you doing alright?”  
“Do we look like we are alright?” Hopper asks   
“Yeah man you just told us how you were attacked by four demogorgons and you expect us to be ALRIGHT?” Lucas says  
“Yeah dude, I’ve known you for a total hour and I’m already worried,” Max says  
“Well you have no need to be worried I’m totally fine,” I say  
“I’m glad your alright,”Mike says softly turning to hug me, I hug home back, looking up at me he says “I really missed you, we all did,”   
“Thanks a lot guys,”  
“Get in here” dustin says lightly, pulling mike and Will into a hug Lucas joins then max and el then mom, next Jonathan and hopper comes in too  
“I really missed you guys and to those I just met, welcome to the group!” I say sighing softly, and being properly happy for the first time in awhile   
“We missed you too!” Everyone says together  
I sigh contentedly. We all unravel trying to get out of the mess of limbs without falling over.

“But I will have to go back to the Nether to drop my weapons back at home,”   
“You’re WHAT!”  
“Hehe... oh no!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh btw I’m doing more of the same story but with a different ending in case you want something with a plot twist or new characters or if you have another idea for a different ending or new story please get back to me bc I’d like some more ideas thanks guys!!!


End file.
